The Bethlehem Digital History Project, a partnership between Reeves Library at Moravian College, and the Bethlehem Area Public Library, was nominated for inclusion in response to an open call for nominations posted on EDSITE and several humanities listservs. The site was evaluated by a peer panel of educators and administrators in education organizations and higher education institutions. It was determined that the site met the EDSITE criteria for intellectual quality, content, design, and most importantly, classroom impact.

The Bethlehem Digital History Project website was initially created in 1999 to share relevant material owned by several institutions that was previous inaccessible to the public. The project focuses on the contributions of the Moravians during the early years of the city's history, including information on the industrial, social, and economic contributions of the Moravians—as revealed through primary sources.

Development of the website was funded by a grant through the Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania from the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) NETShare. Reeves Library at Moravian College and the Bethlehem Area Public Library jointed to create the site and provide easy access to a wealth of information about Bethlehem's first one hundred years and its Moravian heritage.

Vernon H. Nelson, archivist of the Moravian Archives, faculty from the Moravian College History Department, faculty of the Moravian Theological Seminary, and information and cataloging librarians from both Reeves Library and Bethlehem Area Public Library worked together to identify key materials to tell about Bethlehem's early years and develop the means to provide digital access to the interested public.

EDSITE in partnership with NEH, the National Trust for the Humanities, and the Marco Polo Education Foundation, serves as the entrance to the highest quality humanities-related educational resource on the internet, serving a wealth of information for parents, teachers, and students across the country searching for excellent, content-rich sites from among thousands of available sites on the internet. EDSITE provides lesson plans, a monthly calendar, and professional opportunities, “This Month’s Feature”, a search engine, the “NEH Spotlight”, and a contact session. Part of the mission of EDSITE is to guide educators in the use of high quality online humanities websites in the classroom.

Moravian College is a private, coeducational, selective liberal arts college located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tracing its founding to 1742, it is recognized as America's sixth-oldest college. Visit the web site at www.moravian.edu.